The Impossibility of Absolute Unconsciousness in the 1st-Person
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2021 11:18 pm
Absolute unconsciousness cannot be experienced in the 1st-person.
If one could be unconscious, they would not even realise that they were unconscious, and therefore cannot experience their own unconsciousness. If they cannot experience their own unconsciousness, then they cannot ever be in the state of unconsciousness, and if they cannot be in the state of unconsciousness, then they cannot be unconscious in an absolute sense.
Consciousness and unconsciousness are a binary pair: there is no tertiary state, and neither can it be considered a spectrum because even partial consciousness falls under the banner of consciousness.
However, if 1st-person unconsciousness is impossible then the binary collapses. We already know that 1st-person consciousness is a certainty because it survives mechanisms of skepticism such as the Cartesian evil demon proposition.
Therefore, is 1st-person consciousness is possible, and 1st-person unconsciousness is impossible, then 1st-person consciousness is inevitable.
Or in other words, 1st-person consciousness is eternal.
If one could be unconscious, they would not even realise that they were unconscious, and therefore cannot experience their own unconsciousness. If they cannot experience their own unconsciousness, then they cannot ever be in the state of unconsciousness, and if they cannot be in the state of unconsciousness, then they cannot be unconscious in an absolute sense.
Consciousness and unconsciousness are a binary pair: there is no tertiary state, and neither can it be considered a spectrum because even partial consciousness falls under the banner of consciousness.
However, if 1st-person unconsciousness is impossible then the binary collapses. We already know that 1st-person consciousness is a certainty because it survives mechanisms of skepticism such as the Cartesian evil demon proposition.
Therefore, is 1st-person consciousness is possible, and 1st-person unconsciousness is impossible, then 1st-person consciousness is inevitable.
Or in other words, 1st-person consciousness is eternal.